How to improve your employability in your free time

Improving your employability is a great way to widen your skill set and enhance your CV. There are loads of productive habits you can get into to maximise your employability!

1. Prioritise personal presentation – getting up and dressed will get you into the habit of being presentable and put you in the right frame of mind to get the most out of your day!

2. Take a ‘can-do’ approach - learning to solve problems calmly whilst staying positive in your day-to-day life will help you to develop resilience, a key employability signifier!

3. Get organised - timekeeping and planning go a long way to making sure you are prepared for the world of work. Master timekeeping tools such as Google Calendar, Trello, or Microsoft OneNote to keep you at the top of your organisational game.

4. Perfect your commercial awareness - do your research. Find out everything you can about the company or industry you are hoping to get into, this never fails to impress at interviews!

5. Be up to date – keep your knowledge of current affairs and communication channels up to date, having even a basic understanding goes a long way!

Can you think of any other ways that you might be able to increase your employability? Here are some ideas.

Take up a hobby

You may already be involved with a hobby in your personal life and this is a sure-fire way to interest employers. Whether it’s getting creative (drawing, writing, cooking, photography, musical instruments), cultural activities (museums, theatre, travelling, learning a language), strategic games (chess, online games), or team sports (football, netball, tennis), employers are likely to be very interested to find out these are how you chose to engage your spare time!

Take team sports for example – what better way is there to demonstrate your successful team working skills? If you are looking to get started in a sport session, jump on the ‘Meetup’ App to easily search for a free sports session near you.

For more advice on how to improve your teamwork skills, click here.

Apply for volunteering and work experience

Gaining voluntary and work experience is one of the best ways for you to enhance your CV and stand out to employers. You will develop key employability skills from first-hand experience whilst meeting new people and giving back to the community. What’s not to like? Whether you’re looking to gain experience in an office-based environment or to spend more time outdoors, there are a great deal of options available to you.

Find out more about the benefits of volunteering and how to get involved here

Social media know-how

Most employers view social media communication as a key employability skill and a great starting point for many new careers. Having an existing profile, will help you to get to grips with social media and its basic features. You can find out more about how to build and use your online profile effectively here. Plan your engagement to organise images, write catchy captions and gain interest from others. This will demonstrate to businesses that you have the skills to build engagement using social media as a tool.

Get yourself out there

Use online platforms to advertise your interest and skills. Putting effort into managing profiles will help to get you noticed by potential employers. Make sure your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and especially LinkedIn are showing you in the best light! You can ‘like’ and ‘follow’ pages of relevant businesses to enhance your profile.

Remember – employers almost always check your online presence before hiring!

Get technical

Microsoft office is used widely all over the world. Upping your technical skills is a fantastic way to get ahead! Get experienced with Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint. These programs are your best friends when it comes to developing essential IT skills. You can familiarise yourself with the different functions and features in your own time by watching instructional videos online, practicing at the library and asking a friend or teacher to teach you the basics. Almost all job descriptions will be looking for knowledge of Microsoft packages in potential employees and having a better understanding might just help you land your dream role!

*Top Tip* Get experience building and managing your own website. Familiarise yourself with coding principles and get creative! Watch tutorials online and give it a go.

Get online

The online world offers the opportunity to discover more about almost any topic you can think of. Why not harness your curiosity as something that can enhance your CV? Find an interesting online course that’s right for you and complete it around your other commitments when you can find the time. Interested in film, interior design or gaming? Get inquisitive online and see what you can learn! There are tons of free courses and resources available to you.

So, what now?

The activities below have all been designed to help you get fully ready to take your next steps - whatever pathway you choose to take. Each set of activities ranges from a short activity which should take no more than 30 minutes, through to portfolio activities, which are longer, project-based tasks. The more time you spend on each activity, the more you'll get out of it, but you should be able to find something each week to fit into your schedule.

Why not start with the short activity first and then work your way through the remaining activities until you’ve completed them all?

Short activity

Make a list of your current hobbies and interests.

• For each, list the transferable skills you could gain from doing this activity to talk about at interview or on your CV. For example, if you play in a sports team then you have demonstrated communication skills by training/playing with others on your team, as well as time management to fit the sport around your studies.

• Next, think about any additional hobbies or interests that can help you plug any skills gaps or build on existing skills.

Focusing on opportunities for personal development is important now and throughout your professional career.

Main activity

Research an organisation that you think you would enjoy working for.

• Write about what drew you to them, and the different people they might need working for them.
• Then, consider the characteristics that they might look for in their employees.

You might find some of these buzzwords or qualities on an organisation's ‘About us’ page or within their mission statement.

Don’t just think about academic requirements, but also more holistically at the personality types and culture.

• Now write a clear, concise paragraph on how you meet their ideal employee. This can act as a ‘personal statement’ for a future application and act as good practice in selling yourself as the right person for the role.

Portfolio

Create a two-minute video as if you are introducing and promoting yourself in an interview.

• Introduce yourself, and talk about your hobbies, skills and strengths.

You can then refer back to this if you need help writing about yourself on your CV, in a job application or to help prepare for an interview.

An increasing number of job applications involve a pre-recorded or live virtual element, so getting comfortable in front of the camera is an important thing to master early on.

PSHE lesson

Find a job advertisement that students will work from.

• In pairs or groups, get them to act as a ‘Careers Coach’.
• Their role is to provide practical advice to their friend (or potential applicant) on how to demonstrate that they meet the person specification.

If there are any gaps in their friend’s skill set, they should advise them on what they can do to develop the skill set ready for interview.

• Have students present their advice to the class and discuss.

This should help students think about practical steps they can take to improve their employability (by following the same advice they would give to a friend/client).